Each May 1 for the past two decades, in a much-anticipated ritual of unbridled violence, Kreuzberg has turned into a battlefield as police clash with rioters under the bemused gaze of excited, camera-toting tourists.

May Day – a phenomenon combining Germany’s knack for organization with Berlin’s predisposition for nihilism – has come to epitomize the city’s much-sought-after alternative edge, alongside hardcore electro and underground clubs in old warehouses.